Tacos are a popular food. Many people buy precooked taco shells from the grocery store and a significant industry exists to produce the taco shells in commercial processes.
Most processes involve placing the baked tortilla in a taco frying machine and passing the taco through a vat of hot oil to fry the taco. A number of mechanisms exist to fry the tacos at commercially acceptable speeds. However, a problem often exists in positioning the tortilla precisely in the machine to form a uniform final product. Nonuniform tacos, commonly known as J's because one leg of the taco is longer than the other, create problems in packaging. The lack of consistency found in commercial products requires a package design which is larger and more bulky than would be necessary if the tacos were more uniformly unshaped, i.e., the legs of the tacos are of equal length and the tacos are symmetric. This inefficiency costs more in packaging materials and additional shelf space at the stores.
In prior designs, it is common to use a set of four pins to position the tortilla on a wire mesh for frying. Commonly, an 8 inch long mesh is utilized for frying all size tortillas with a diameter less than 8 inches. For example, a standard 51/2 inch diameter tortilla would be positioned on the mesh relative to the four pins, working in dual pairs, which rise up from underneath the mesh to about 1/2 inch above the mesh. Ideally, the forward edge of the tortilla will contact both forward pins so that the forward portion of the tortilla lies between the forward pins and extends ahead of the forward pins. However, in practice, if the tortilla is offset sideways at all, the tortilla will likely only hit one of the forward pins and not be located as forward on the mesh as an ideal position. Also, the tortilla will occasionally drop on the pins and stick to the pins. This has lead to the creation of J's, i.e., tacos with one side shorter than the other, and other unacceptable results.
A need therefore exists for an improved taco fryer which will make the product more uniform.